A special one-day session of Maharashtra Legislature to consider ratification of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitutional Amendment Bill passed by Parliament, got underway in Monday. In the Assembly, Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar tabled a resolution to ratify the GST Bill, while Minister of State for Finance Deepak Kesarkar introduced it in the Council.

• In the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena (SS) alliance has a majority of 185. With the Opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in favour of GST, the State Legislature is set to ratify the Bill unanimously.

• “Senior NCP leader and former Maharashtra Finance Minister Jayant Patil said the party would support the legislation but it also expected a discussion on the provisions in the Assembly.nThe 122nd Constitutional Amendment Bill passed by Parliament needs at least 16 states to ratify it before it could be sent for Presidential assent. So far, nine states including three states not ruled by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) have ratified the Bill.